Taste of the Town: Sushi Bar is an omakase with speakeasy style
MIAMI -- You can expect the unexpected beyond the unmarked door at The Esme Hotel on Miami Beach at Sushi Bar.
It's an omakase with speakeasy style that has an intimate counter of 12 seats where guests can watch and learn as three chefs prepare a detailed, yet playful menu unfold of the freshest fish sourced from the best markets in the world.
At the helm is Chef Amberly Ouimette, one of the country's only female omakase chefs who helped launch the first highly successful Sushi Bar in Austin, Texas two years ago.
She says Miami had to be next.
"You come to Miami for the big, fun and unique experiences," she said. "And I think we're bringing something special to the sushi world here."
Sushi Bar features 17 courses priced at $175 per person which includes an opening cocktail.
That's 17 delicious bites of intricately prepared nigiri pieces each with a detailed list of sauces, spices, and fermentations.
You won't find soy sauce or chopsticks here.
"No chopsticks," Ouimette said. "Everything is made to be finger food so you eat with your hands. It makes it a little more interactive and you no fear of dropping the bites."
Each course is completely different than the next, the chef said.
You'll taste the complexities in the layers of every bite.
"Since we have 17 courses, any of them being similar doesn't make it unique of an experience," Ouimette said. "So, we're going through a lot of flavors. You're going through almost a roller coaster of all the flavors throughout the menu here."
During a visit to the restaurant, CBS 4 experienced a shortened version of the roller coaster ride of flavors with Akami, or blue fin tuna, from Baha, California.
It has house made nikiri soy and dehydrated red miso. It is topped with Everything Bagel Spice.
"The fish is just beyond delicious," CBS 4 reporter Lisa Petrillo said. "There's a salt, there's a savory, there's a sweet.".
"That's from the nikiri," Ouimette said. "You want everything. All the portions of your tongue to hit it all from that bite because it's a singular bite. You're not going in for a second bite, so you want all of those flavors right away."
The Apple Wood Smoked Spanish Mackerel with candied skin, blueberry fermentation, and fresh wasabi was the next dish.
Then an exclusive Made for Miami Bite, which has a golden amber jack with guava and passion fruit, compressed pineapple, shishito truffle sauce, and fresh mint to finish.
"I taste the sweet," Petrillo said. "It's like a dessert sushi bite."
"We even spray a little cinnamon to get that wafting cinnamon smell, like a tiki vibe, when you're eating that bite," Ouimette said.
Finally, the finest beef from Japan, Wagyu, with a brown butter miso sauce with dill and sesame seeds. On the day CBS 4 visited, the chef topped it with the finest caviar as an "add on."
"So cheesy, beefy, and buttery," said Chef.
Twist my arm, said Petrillo. "It's just fatty and delicious.
" It's luxury," Ouimette said. "It's naughty."
The naughty and high-end dinner is open seven days a week for three seatings at 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and 9:45 p.m.
For more info: www.SushiBarHospitality.com
